Given or Lent
by Audriella
Summary: Jack has a last request… Takes place near the end of the first movie. Jack/James totally PG


Pairing: James/Jack  
Summary: Jack has a last request…Takes place near the end of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

**A/N: Innocent little PG drabble that I wrote about three years ago. Hope you enjoy it.  
**

Jack sat in his prison cell before his execution. Norrington came down to talk to him.

"Sparrow."

"Aye."

"May I have a word?"

"What if I was to say… no?"

"That's not for you to decide." The Commodore continued, "I just want to question your motives for getting yourself in this mess in the first place. Surely, you knew you would fail?"

"Aye, I did know. I knew from the second I met you down on the docks, Jamie," Sparrow replied.

"Do not address me so casually, Sparrow," Norrington said coldly.

"Then be kind enough to add a "Captain" in there. As I was saying, I knew I would not succeed the moment I met you."

"But you didn't even know Turner then," Norrington commented.

"I knew that I would never succeed as a pirate again, because I'd heard of you, mate. You're the "last face you see before the noose and your heavenly father", as they say. I knew that if I were to escape, you would hunt me down. I could see my life's clock running out already."

"It is my duty to the Crown to insure…" Sparrow cut him off.

"That every pirate gets what he deserves. Yes, yes I know. A short drop and a sudden stop. I'm not looking forward to it, you know. But I wonder, James, do you ever think about it from our point of view?" Norrington lets Sparrow's use of his name slip this time.

"And what exactly is your point of view, "Captain" Sparrow?"

"I don't want to die," Sparrow said simply.

"No one wants to die, Sparrow. But you should have thought of that before you engaged in acts of piracy."

"I could have put it off, Jamie. I really could of. I could have escaped and lived my life in fear of you hunting me, but I didn't."

"Why didn't you, Jack?" Jack detected a hint of pain in Norrington's voice.

"Because, I wanted to be caught. I wanted to collect my last request."

"And what is that?" Norrington asked, his voice catching in his throat.

Jack answered by pulling the Commodore close and kissing him tenderly. As they pulled apart, James trembled.

"Was that your last request?" he asked weakly.

"That and this question, James. Is your love for me given or lent?" Jack asked seriously.

"Given, Jack, given. I could never only lend my heart to you, as I did for Elizabeth," James answered truthfully.

"That's all I needed to hear. I'm ready to go," Jack replied. James ashamedly led him out and to the gallows. The two men walked in silence, one bound by ropes, another by love and duty. James turned Jack over without a word or glance. The noose was placed around his neck as the Commodore stood in the back and watched with a straight face.

He wished he could speak to Jack one last time. 'I'm sorry,' he'd say. 'There's nothing I can do. The law is inescapable. I love you, Jack, and I always will. Please forgive me.'

Will Turner approached and spoke a few words, proclaiming his love for Elizabeth. James wasn't surprised, but he was aware that Turner was about to do something very rash, too rash.

Elizabeth fainted and drew away his attention for only a moment, but that moment was enough, because he made it enough. By the time he ran for Turner, he was already fighting the executioner. The big man fell on James and stunned him into inaction.

He ran up to Will and Jack surrounded by his men. He was disappointed. Why hadn't they gone the other way and escaped?

James addressed them sternly and Elizabeth sided with them. James was thinking of siding with them as well at this point.

Jack broke away and started in with his usual nonsense.

"I wanted you to know, I was rooting for you. Know that," Jack told James, very close to his face indeed. For one ridiculous moment, James thought he was going to kiss him again. Then he moved away, much to James's disappointment.

The fool pirate then promptly fell off of the battlement wall. James rushed to the edge, fear clenching his stomach in knots. 'You knew you were going to see him die today somehow or another,' he thought to himself as looked down to search for a body amongst the rocks below. James silently breathed a sigh of relief as Jack's head broke free from the surface of the water.

Gillette beside him was muttering something about nooses and then asked him for orders. James was in a fog as he watched Jack swim for his ship. 'He got away. He got away,' was all James's mind could comprehend. Luckily, the Governor came to his rescue as he floundered about like a beached fish searching for words.

"…perhaps an act of piracy is the answer?" the Governor finished with something like that. James allowed himself a small smile.

Gillette persisted. "I think we can afford to give him one day's head start," James answered him. One day should give him enough time to get away.

'Sail away swiftly, Pearl. And keep my love, and my heart, safe.'

~*~

**I love the Commodore and imagining what really goes on in his pretty head. :) Please review and perhaps I'll consider starting up one of my numerous unfinished Pirates stories. **


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